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The “conscious” anecdote and the parable in “Milczenie”
Abstract
This article discusses the subtle distinctions between anecdotes and parables in the works of Cyprian Norwid, analysed on the example of Milczenie [Silence]. The universal significance of the characters and events depicted as well as the schematic and sketchy nature of the plot distinguish the parable from the anecdote, which is characterised by its embeddedness in specific circumstances of place and time, focusing on specific characters and centring on a characteristic, sometimes satirical, event. What they share, in turn, is their narrative nature, brevity, persuasiveness and – as a key element – cognitive value, based on the descriptive potential of the particular event. In the reflection and creative practice of the author of Quidam, a particular type of “conscious anecdote” emerges, subject to parabolisation, for which the duality of meanings characteristic of parables is typical. In Norwid’s essay, this anecdote functions as a “parabasis” (a kind of figurative argument). It is also a means of arriving at the truth and expressing it “in absolute openness” (i.e. uncensored), as well as a “reflective parable” that facilitates understanding. It thus proves to be a literarily mature form of cognition and expression. In Norwid’s essayistic practice, the parabolised anecdote also proves to be one of the means enabling critical reflection on the changing social and civilisational reality, viewed through the prism of mundane, everyday events – those which, outside the anecdote, “are not spoken of”. In Milczenie, the non-obvious connection between the anecdote and the parable is not so much – or not only – explicitly thematised, but rather presented through “how it is told” – in the structure of the parabolised anecdotes present in the text and in the structure of the essay itself, in the self-awareness and function of the form.
Keywords:
Cyprian Norwid, anecdote, parable, Milczenie, Polish literature, nineteenth centuryDetails
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